# Ant Intelligence: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 7, Test 3, Reading Passage 1

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 7, Test 3, Reading Passage 1. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | FALSE | Such chemical communication can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels |
| 2 | TRUE | urban lifestyles - the forcing house of intelligence |
| 3 | NOT GIVEN | ants have lived in urban settings for close on a hundred million years |
| 4 | TRUE | they navigate by integrating bearings and distances, which they continuously update in their heads |
| 5 | FALSE | Elaborate precautions were taken to prevent the foraging team using odour clues. |
| 6 | NOT GIVEN | advises readers who ask what to do with the ants in their kitchen |
| 7 | C | Ants can't digest the cellulose in leaves - but some fungi can. |
| 8 | M | Farmer ants secrete antibiotics to control other fungi that might act as 'weeds' |
| 9 | F | spread waste to fertilise the crop |
| 10 | D | the ants improve or modify the fungi by regularly swapping and sharing strains with neighbouring ant colonies |
| 11 | N | The farming methods of ants are at least sustainable. |
| 12 | O | They do not ruin environments |
| 13 | E | or use enormous amounts of energy |

## Why these answers are right

**1. FALSE.** The statement says ants and humans share the same channels of communication. Paragraph B says ants use chemical signals, which can be compared to the human use of visual and auditory channels. Comparable is not the same, so the statement is false.

**2. TRUE.** The statement links city life with the development of intelligence. Paragraph G calls urban lifestyles the forcing house of intelligence, meaning a setting that pushes intelligence to grow, so the passage agrees that city life encourages it.

**3. NOT GIVEN.** The statement compares how fast ants and humans build cities. The passage says ants have lived in urban settings for about a hundred million years and describes a huge supercolony in Hokkaido, but it never mentions building speed, so this is not given.

The why and the trap for questions 4 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/ant-intelligence/answers).

[Practice Ant Intelligence](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/ant-intelligence)